Itching Thumb (WebOs Style Task Manager)

frankos72

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Not in all cases and surely not at the same speed but what can I do. I already got the phone. I just hope palm can produce a decent phone then I will switch back. Calendar and email on android is just awful and they are the most important things to me.

k9 mail is better than the stock mail app. Maildroid is too for that matter, try them out maybe you will like one better. But none of the current offerings are as good as webOS at email.
 

frankos72

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OK. I'll stop trying to help. Carry on.

I think part of the problem here is we are in the android epic 4g forum and you are using a different phone. What you are doing on that phone isn't a default option on the epic4g. At least not that I know of in the same way you are doing it. To add to the confusion, you don't narrate your video. I do see it going back to the same state in the contacts page, but you also seem to be opening additional apps in a way that is foreign to me. I think you are pulling up a task manager and switching to an already open app. Perhaps if you were to add some narration or explanation to us epic4g only guys it (who never used any other android device) that might be helpful(to me at least).

In the meantime to further explain the OPs position. On a pre you could be in a sms conversation and if they asked you for a phone number, you could switch over to contacts and get the number (even if you had to go to the launcher to get it). Then when you swiped back over to your SMS it would still be in the same spot. You pasted in the contact info you had copied out of the contacts and it was simple. Then you could open up your email or 9 other apps whatever but so long as you didn't close your contacts app, soon as you went back you were still looking at that same contact. This sort of persistent state of apps was/is amazing. It's definitely one of my most missed features of the Pre.

As to the original question. I have it working on my phone but I"m not settled in on it yet. right now I have to launch it from the task manager or actually from my Launcher Pro. Yeah, I have the paid version of LP installed and set for my default action on the home button. I did have to restart my phone to make it work correctly.

For those who didn't like the feel of it, you should check the settings. The inertia and display style can both be changed. I slowed down the inertia and went to a "flat" Style and it's very similar to the Pre.

ALL THAT SAID. I think this app has the ability to bring some great PRE LIKE functions to android. Unfortunately I do believe that the default behavior of some programs will always prevent them from maintaining the persistent state that we are used to from webOS.
 
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HeyBeerManTX

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So Launcher Pro gets things "closer" to WebOS, eh? And K9 Mail is better than stock mail? Is it closer to WebOS also?

Anything else that will get it closer to WebOS? I'd love to have WebOS running on this thing, but will settle for just getting it closer in certain situations....
 

frankos72

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So Launcher Pro gets things "closer" to WebOS, eh? And K9 Mail is better than stock mail? Is it closer to WebOS also?

Anything else that will get it closer to WebOS? I'd love to have WebOS running on this thing, but will settle for just getting it closer in certain situations....

Really android is a pretty decent OS. It just takes some getting used to. It's poor way of multitasking (only having access to the last 6 apps used irregardless if they are still open or closed) is one of it's biggest short comings. Itching thumb seems to help a bit.

Problem is now that my itching thumbs app will display "cards" or app pages that are actually closed. IE: the last phone call will show as a card in Itching thumb, even if you aren't on the phone anymore. Also I've noticed it showing an open email before but when I tried to switch to it it just goes back to my home-screen. Then when I pull up IT again that card will be gone. This is the same action that I get if I try to open the screen with the phone call that actually closed.
 

PoundSand

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Really android is a pretty decent OS. It just takes some getting used to. It's poor way of multitasking (only having access to the last 6 apps used irregardless if they are still open or closed) is one of it's biggest short comings. Itching thumb seems to help a bit.

he, now you're being disingenuous- with webos, you'd probably get a too many cards error by the time you get to 6 open apps. ;D (and froyo shows the 8 most recent, fwiw)
 

HeyBeerManTX

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he, now you're being disingenuous- with webos, you'd probably get a too many cards error by the time you get to 6 open apps. ;D (and froyo shows the 8 most recent, fwiw)

The "Too Many Cards" error was one of the main issues I was having with WebOS.....getting it when you are trying to open your FIRST card was....well, I nearly threw the phone a few times.....

However, I think that was more a problem caused by the hardware than the OS.

6-8 is plenty for me, IF they would be smoother/faster to switch between, and put me in the same place/state I was in when I left.
 

PoundSand

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getting it when you are trying to open your FIRST card was....well, I nearly threw the phone a few times.....

However, I think that was more a problem caused by the hardware than the OS.

6-8 is plenty for me, IF they would be smoother/faster to switch between, and put me in the same place/state I was in when I left.

yeah, with no cards open, that was a pisser. as far as app state when you switch, again, that's up to the app developer- put in a feature request to the dev if you don't like how a specific app works. ;D
 

jaredsutter

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I've been using my epic for a couple months now, and I think the hardware is great, the app selection is very good, and android is good enough. Webos seriously has the best and most elegant task switching method. froyo does a decent job of managing memory with apps open, but eclair sucks when t tasks are left open, and I'm just kinda anal about knowing what's running. I'm trying visual task switcher right now, and it serena to recover some of what I miss, but it's still not as good
 

joeman3429

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I'd just like to say that I miss the gesture area as much as I miss the task switching on the Pre. It really made using the phone smooth and more importantly, satisfying in a tactile way.
 

Galane

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I actually prefer Androids task management over WebOs.. With Android I know for sure when I have quit a task. No question of it possibly running in the background.those cards are nice and elegant but "fluff" imho

Then why am I always having to go to manage applications to force close apps I don't want running, which keep launching themselves in the background? Facebook, Gmail, Amazon Appstore, and several others will not stay shut down until *I* command them to start or do something that needs them.

When the user launches an app that needs one or more other apps to be launched, they should launch *and* those apps should quit when the app that called them is quit. But they mostly keep on running needlessly.

Then there's the problem with Android sneakily closing whatever apps it figures aren't being used. It's especially annoying when I have a page open in a browser, intending to get back to it later but find Android has closed the browser. Why? I don't know why, it's just shut down and what I was last looking at is lost. It does the same thing with Kindle Reader. Fortunately that apps remembers where it was.

Dolphin HD and Kindle Reader are two apps I'd like to be able to protect from Android being able to close automatically.
 

treotraveler

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Then why am I always having to go to manage applications to force close apps I don't want running, which keep launching themselves in the background? Facebook, Gmail, Amazon Appstore, and several others will not stay shut down until *I* command them to start or do something that needs them.

When the user launches an app that needs one or more other apps to be launched, they should launch *and* those apps should quit when the app that called them is quit. But they mostly keep on running needlessly.

Then there's the problem with Android sneakily closing whatever apps it figures aren't being used. It's especially annoying when I have a page open in a browser, intending to get back to it later but find Android has closed the browser. Why? I don't know why, it's just shut down and what I was last looking at is lost. It does the same thing with Kindle Reader. Fortunately that apps remembers where it was.

Dolphin HD and Kindle Reader are two apps I'd like to be able to protect from Android being able to close automatically.

Not meant as an insult, but the problem may be, that you don't understand how Android works. For example....

Android apps share resources, that's why the app size is fairly small. Some apps have to sit in the que for faster load. While the apps sit in the que, they use a little RAM, but no CPU cycles until the app is opened.

On the browser, if using TouchWiz, edit the dock bar and place Dolphin HD in the dock bar. If you hit the Home button to launch another app, hit the Home button after using another app, the hit Dolphin HD in the dock bar,the last page you were looking at will reopen.

If you are using a third party launcher, edit the dock bar in that launcher. If you are using TouchWiz and need more dock bars, get a third party launcher. Some launchers will have three or more dock bars.....
 

Caduceus

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Not meant as an insult, but the problem may be, that you don't understand how Android works. For example....

Android apps share resources, that's why the app size is fairly small. Some apps have to sit in the que for faster load. While the apps sit in the que, they use a little RAM, but no CPU cycles until the app is opened.

On the browser, if using TouchWiz, edit the dock bar and place Dolphin HD in the dock bar. If you hit the Home button to launch another app, hit the Home button after using another app, the hit Dolphin HD in the dock bar,the last page you were looking at will reopen.

If you are using a third party launcher, edit the dock bar in that launcher. If you are using TouchWiz and need more dock bars, get a third party launcher. Some launchers will have three or more dock bars.....

Are you saying that adding an app to a dock bar helps Android remember what state it was in when you come back to the app?
 

funktron2x

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The whole point of Android is that you don't have to do your multitasking by hand, moving cards around. Just open a past app and it has saved state right where you left off.

Still I added a link to it in the Palm webOS Homebrewer's Guide to Android for others coming over from webOS. But I think Visual Task Switcher is smoother.

HA! I wish all Android apps "saved state where you left off"!!!

GB has been better for me than froyo or before, but I still sometimes want to flip back and forth between a few apps and have to wait as they play the launch/reload game.

I sorely, deeply miss Web OS multitasking. I like the promise of OnSkreen for my nook color, though, if CM9 ever becomes a full-fledged reality on it.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
 

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